Apparatus for stitch regulation in knitting machines



F 1937 A; w. MUTCHLERET AL APPARATUSFOR STITCH REGULATION IN KNITTINGMACHINES Filed June 16, 1934 3- Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTORE ArrhurW.Murnhle HEH'IE Ll. SWELIES'IIELHE'F BY WT RNEY Feb. 16, 1-937. A. W.MUTC H LER ET AL 2,070,302

APPARATUS FOR STITCH REGULATION IN KNITTING MACHINES 3 Sheets-Sheet 2Filed June -16, 1934 IN VENTORS J. 'flfraugibe ArrhurW Mmchlar H a na FEl" BY 0! (1% W ATTORNEY Feb. 16, 1937- A. w. MUTCHLER ET AL I 2,070,892

- APPARATUS FOR STITCH REGULATION IN KNITTING MACHINES FiIed'June 16,1954 3 Sheets-Sheet s 'INVENTORS Am -hurW Mu rchhar Han ffr'raussbgmlar.

I ATTORNEY Patented Feb. 16, 1937 APPARATUS FOR s'rrrcn REGULATION mxm'rrmo MACHINES W. Mutoliler, Brooklyn, and Hans J.

Straussberger, Middle Village, Long Island,

N. Y., assignors to Julius Kayser 8: 00., New

York, N. Y.

Application June '16, 1934, Serial No. 730,896

14 Claims.

This invention relates to a method of, andan attachment or apparatusfor, stitch regulation in full-fashioned knitting machines.

portions of the stocking.

In the knitting of full-fashioned stockings it has been found thatvariation is liable to and does occur at the commencement of the forma-'tion of the heel reinforcement or splice at the sides of the stockingblank. At this point in the knitting operation the speed of the machineis reduced, due to the necessity for the insertion of the reinforcingthreads for the heel splice, and it has been found that the portion ofthe fabric extending between the .heel reinforcements in the stockingblank has a comparatively tight stitch, showing a more or less distinctcontrast with the stitches of the fabric immediately above the upperextremity of the heel splices. This lack of uniformity is perhaps due tothe slowing down of the knitting operation at this point, but, whateverthe cause, a contrast in the stitches at this point frequently shows anobjectionable line,

or flaw at the front of the instep or ankle, and as this is a point atwhich uniformity and smoothness is most desirable, considerable loss hasbeen experienced in the past-and more particularly with the very finegage sheer stockings at present in demanddue to this lack of uniformityin the size of the stitches.

It is usual practice to provide, cams, made in sections forautomatically controlling the movement of the needle bar to loosen thestitches at each side of the blank to allow for the reinforcement at theheel splices while retaining, for the formation of the loops betweensaid splices, the same stitch regulation as for the main portion of thestocking leg. 1

One object of our invention is to provide an improved method of stitchregulation for ensuring uniformity of the stitches in the leg and ankleAnother object of our invention is to provide a stitch regulating deviceactuating in connection with the main stitch regulating cam and adaptedto control the stitch at the point of commencement of the knitting ofthe high-splice heel.

. A further object of our invention is to provide an additional stitchregulator for opening the stitch to a predetermined degree at the pointof commencement of the formation of the high spliced heel. A stillfurther object is to provide a stitch regulator capable of fineadjustment to regulate the stitches to the required extent between thehigh spliced heel to give the required uniformity with the stitches inthe fabric above said heel, and to provide automatic means for (CI.66-82) Q restoring the stitch adjustment on completion of the formationof the instep portion of the leg blank of the stocking.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in thenovel construction and arrangement of parts hereinafter described, ilalustrated in the accompanying drawings. and particularly pointed out inthe appended claims. a it being understood that various changes in theform and constructional details may be made without departing from thespirit of the invention or sacrificing any of the advantages thereof.

In the drawings, Fig. 1 is a front view of the stitchregulator mountedon the usual stitch regulating shaft; Fig. 2 is aside view of the same;Fig. 3 is a side view showing our'improved regulator in connection withcertain known parts of a full-fashioned knitting machine; Fig. 4 is aview showing the lower part of the blank of a stocking leg; and Fig. 5is a detail view showing a'portion of the micrometer adjustment used inconnection with the improved regulator.

Referring particularly to-Flg. 3 of the drawings, the usual main camshaft I carries the main cam 2 which actuates the roller 3 mountedon astud on the lever 4, which latter has a pin\ 5 that engages a recess inthe lever 6 jointed to the needle bar lever I, all in the usualwell-known manner in this type of machine, and-in the usual waytheroller 3 is at certain times prevented from following the contour of thecam 2, the regulator shaft 8 being provided for this purpose with an arm9 loosely mounted thereon and carrying a roller to engaging a cam II onthe said cam shaft l. a The said regulator shaft 8 is also provided inthe well-known manner with a lever.'l2 secured thereto, and having astud l3 for engaging the lower extremity of. the lever l.

Referring particularly to Figs. 1 and 2 of the 40 drawings, theregulator shaft 8 carries the said arm 9 without positive connectionthereto, the boss I5 of this arm being located--and held in axialpositionbetween two bosses l6 formed on a fork or bridge-shaped arm llsecured to the regulator shaft 8 by means of screws l8 so thatin thewell-known manner-actuation of the arm 9, through the medium of the camII and roller l0, rocks the regulator shaft through the medium of thearm l'l,so that the lever l2 on For imparting the movement of the arm 9to the arm 87, as above referred to, a plunger or pin i9 carried by thearm l7 engages the peripheral surface of the cam carried by the arm 9,the upper portion of the arm 9 being forked to receive the said rollerit and cam 20. The cam 29 is secured upon a pin 2-6 extending throughthe forked portion of the arm 9 and also secured on the pin 2| is anotched wheel 22 and a lever handle 23, so that the cam may beconveniently turned by swinging the said handle 23 and is retained inadjusted position by a spring detent 244 secured on the arm 9 andengaging the notches of the wheel 22.

The relative angular positions of the lever arms 9, ll, may be varied bymovement of the lever handle 23 so as to regulate the angular position vof the regulator shaft 8 relatively to the cam ll on the shaft I for thepurpose of regulating the movement of the lever 41 and of the needle barin the well-known manner, and the following means are also provided forthe independent adjustment of the relative angular position of thelevers 3, ll.

The plunger i9 is formed with an external screw thread 25 (Fig. 5)engaging a screw-threaded socket in an externally screw-threaded sleeve25, which latter engages an internally screw-threaded socket in the armi'i, so that adjustment of the arms 9, ii relatively to each other maybe efiected by turning either or both of the members I9, 26. One end ofthe plunger 59 engages the cam 26 as above described, while the oppositeend is provided with a notched wheel 2'? held in adjusted angularposition by means of a spring detent 28 secured on a plate 29 which isin turn secured to one end of the said sleeve 23 and has a pair ofprojecting pins 39 to serve as handles for the convenient rotation ofthe plate 29 to turn the members l9 and 26 in unison for the regulationof the stitch at the commencement of the formation of the heel splice.

The plate 29 is provided with a projecting dog or stop 3! securedthereto by a screw 32 and adapted to contact with a stop pin 33 on thearm l1. Secured to the face of the plate 29 and overhanging theperipheral edge thereof is a bracket 34 firmly secured in its properposition by means of a screw 35 and adapted to be engaged by a springlatch 36, held against the periphery of the plate 29 by means of a coilspring 37 mounted upon a pin-38 by which the latch 36 is carried upon abracket 39 rigidly secured by means of screws'tll to the front face ofthe said arm l'l. Integrally formed with the latch 36 is a tail piece Madapted to be engaged by the said lever handle 23 for the disengagementof the latch 36 from the bracket 31 to release the plate 29 and positionshown at Figs. 1 and 2, and the dog 3| is held in engagement with thestop pin 33 by the action of the spring 42. The plunger or pin l9 havingbeen adjusted within the sleeve 26 to produce the desired form of loopin the stocking tion to form the heel splice 44 and the instep oraovaeoa ankle portion 57 of the stocmng, the usual practice has been toknit the portion d1 without any modification of the stitch-regulatingmeans from that chosen for the knitting of the blank 95; but, asclearlyset forth in the opening paragraphs of this specification,uniformity of stitch in the parts id, (57 does not result, and whetherthis lack of uniformity be due tothe necessary reduction in speed of theoperation of the machine at the line to, or to the' manner in which thethreads are laid, or carried to the needles, we have found that theobjectionable lack of uniformity can be taken care of and that a uniformfabric can be produced throughout the parts 55, til by loosening thestitch to a predetermined extent at the line at, and for this purposethe dog 8i and bracket 3 3 are set at predetermined relative positionson the plate 23, and when the line (it has been reached in the knittingoperation, the plate 29 is turned in a clockwise direction by means ofthe handle 89 until the spring latch 36 engages the bracket 96, therebymodifying to the desired extent the relative angular positions of thearms 9, ii, and regulating the stitch in the manner desired.

After the completion of the knitting operation the handle 23 is swungdownwardly, or in an anti-clockwise direction (Fig. 2), so as to turnthe regulator cam 20 carried by the arm 9 and thus restore the mechanismto position for the knitting of the top section of the next stocking,and this downward movement of the handle 23 automatically releases thelatch 36 from the bracket 3%, by engagement of the handle 23 with thetail piece di, and permits-the plate 29 to returnto its originalposition in which the dog 3! engages the stop pin 33, thus cancellingthe auxiliary adjustment and entirely obviating the possibility of suchcancellation being overlooked by the operator.

Although the drawings and the above speciii cation disclose the bestmode in which we have contemplated embodying our invention, we desire tobe in no way limited to the details of such disclosure; for in thefurther practical application of our invention many changes in form andconstruction may be made as circumstances require or experiencesuggests, without departing from the spirit of the invention within thescope of the appended claims.

What we claim is:-

1. In a knitting machine of the, character described, an apparatus forregulating the actuation of the needle bar mechanism to vary the lengthof the loops at certain stages in the knitting operation comprising: amember movable to different adjusting positions for controlling themovement of said needle bar mechanism,-

means releasably engaging said member for retaining the same when movedto one of its adjusting positions, and means connected to said memberfor automatically moving the same to another of its adjusting positionsupon releasing ofv said first mentioned means.

2. In a knitting machine of the character described, an apparatus forregulating the actuation of the needle bar mechanism to vary the lengthof the loops at certain stages in the knitting operation comprising: a.member movable to different adjusting positions for controlling themovement of said needle bar mechanism, spring means acting on saidmember to normally urge the same to one of its adjusting positions, andlatch means engageable with said member formaintaining the same inanother of its ad-.

justing positions against the normal action of said spring means.

3. In a stitch regulating attachment for full fashioned knittingmachines, a stitch regulator comprising a stitch regulating membermounted' said member to another adjusting position.

5. In a stitch regulating apparatus for full fashioned knittingmachines, an attachment for regulating the length of the stitch incertain pertions of the knitted fabric comprising a rotary screw membermovable to different adjusting positions, means for retaining the saidmember in one adjusting position, and spring means for automaticallymoving said member to another adjusting position.

6. A stitch regulating attachment for full fashioned knitting machinescomprising a cam device, a handle for the operation of the cam, incombination with an auxiliary stitch regulator comprising ascrew-threaded sleeve, a rotary member movable to different adjustingpositions for actuating said sleeve, a spring latch device for retainingthe rotary member in one adjusting position, and spring and stop meansfor automatically moving the rotary member to and redevice, a handle forthe operation of the cam,

in combination with an auxiliary stitch regulator comprising ascrew-threaded sleeve, a rotary member movable to different adjustingpositions for actuating said sleeve, a spring latch device for retainingthe rotary member in one adjusting position, and means whereby the saidspring latch is actuated .by said handle to permit said rotary member tomove to another adjusting position.

8. A stitch regulating attachment for full fashioned knitting machines,comprising a cam device, a handle for the operation of the cam, incombination with an auxiliary stitch regulator comprising ascrew-threaded sleeve, a rotary member movable to different adjustingpositions for actuating said sleeve, a spring latch device for retainingthe rotary memberin one adjusting position, spring and stop means formoving the rotary member to and for retaining it in another adjustingposition, means whereby the said spring latch is actuated by said handleto permit said rotary member to move in said other position, a plungerin screw-threaded en-- gagement with said sleeve and engaging said cam,means for rotating said plunger and means regulating cam, a plungerengaging the cam,

means for adjusting the plunger to regulate the stitch, a handle forturning the cam relatively to the plunger for adjusting the stitch, andan auxiliary stitch regulator comprising.,a' screwthreaded sleeveenclosing said plunger and movable to different adjusting positions,means for rotating said sleeve, latch mechanism for retaining the sleevein one of its adjusting positions, and means for automatically movingthe sleeve to another of its adjusting positions.

10. A stitch regulating attachment for full regulating cam, a plungerengaging said cam, means for adjusting the plunger to regulate thestitch, a handle for turning the cam relatively to the plunger foradjusting the stitch, and an auxiliary stitch regulator comprising ascrewthreaded sleeve enclosing said plunger means for rotating saidsleeve and plunger to different adjusting positions to regulate thestitches, means for retaining the sleeve in one of its adjustingpositions, and means for automatically moving the sleeve and plunger toanother of their adjusting positions.

11. A stitch regulating attachment for full fashioned knitting machines,including a stitch regulating cam, a plunger engaging the cam,

means for adjusting the plunger to regulate the stitch, means forturning the cam relatively to the plunger for adjusting the stitch, andan auxiliary stitch regulator comprising a screwthreaded sleeveenclosing said plunger, means for rotating said sleeve todifferentadjusting positions to regulate the length of the stitch, spring latchmechanism for retaining the sleeve in one of its adjusting positions,and means for automatically moving the sleeve to another of itsadjusting positions.

12. In a stitch regulating attachment for full fashioned knittingmachines, a stitch regulator shaft, an arm fast on said shaft, an armloose on said shaft, a cam for actuating the loose arm, means wherebymovement of said loose arm is imparted to the other arm and to theregulator shaft comprising a cam on the loose arm, a plunger engagingthe latter cam and carried by the said fast arm, a handle for theadjustment of the latter cam, means for retaining said cam in adjustedposition, screw means for the adjustment of said plunger. means forretaining the plunger in adjusted position in combination with auxiliarystitch regulating means including -a sleeve mounted in said fast arm andcarrying said plunger, means for adjusting said sleeve, and means forretaining-said sleeve in adjusted position.

13. In a stitch regulating attachment for full fashioned knittingmachines, a stitch regulator shaft, an arm fast on said shaft, an armloose on said shaft, a cam for actuating the loose arm, means wherebymovement of said loose arm is imparted to the other arm. and

to the regulator shaft, comprising a cam on the loose arm, a plungerengaging the latter cam and carried by the said fast arm, a handle forthe adjustment of the latter cam, in combination with auxiliary stitchregulating means including a member mounted in said fast arm andcarrying said plunger, means for adjusting said member into twopositions, means for retaining said member in one of its positions andmeans for automatically moving same to the other of its positions whenreleased from said retaining means.

l4, Stitch regulating means for full fashioned stockings, comprisingmeans for regulating the operation of the needle bar to control thestitch during the knitting of the main por- 7 .fashioned knittingmachines, including a stitch 4i aoeaeoa tion of the stocking leg blank,in combination with independent means for adjusting the operation of theneedle bar to a predete "3... d degree to control the size cf thestitches of the portion of the fabric flanked by the heel reinforcementsrelatively to the size of the stitches of the main portion of the legblank to insure

